2/15/08 - County nears agreement on wind study

(As published by Cortland Standard, Aimee Milks reporting)

Cortland County is considering an agreement with a company that wants to study the feasibility of building wind farms in the northeastern area of the county.

The draft agreement was discussed at Thursday’s meeting of the county Legislature’s Agriculture, Planning and Environment Committee.

TCI Renewables is seeking an agreement with the county to lease land at the landfill in Solon to erect a meteorological tower to test wind speeds over at least four seasons.

The company would gather all the data from the test tower and would pay the county a flat rate of $1,500. County Planning Department Director Dan Dineen said the test tower would be a pole between 100- and 150-feet tall and collect data for TCI for a year and a half to two years.

Dineen told the committee TCI contacted the county last year about putting wind towers in the northeastern portion of the county.

He added that preliminarily the company has estimated that 30 wind towers would be placed throughout Solon, Cuyler, Truxton and at the Cortland County Landfill.

For several years the county has been interested in a wind study for a potential wind farm. TCI came forward with a proposal about six months ago, Dineen said.

The company also wants to consider converting methane gas produced by the landfill into electricity.

“There needs to be approximately 50 acres of separation between the (wind) towers,” Dineen said. “I don’t believe they’ve talked to the towns yet but it’s probably a good time to start talking about land use regulations in those towns.”

Dineen said the towers would be 300 to 350 feet tall, with blades approximately 200 feet long.
“It’s my understanding that one tower would provide enough power for 10,000 homes,” he said.
TCI Renewables had sent a license and operation agreement to the county to lease county land for its wind tests. Dineen said the county had sent it back because the wording was directed more toward a private residential landowner than a public entity.

The county also sent back a contract agreement that stated the county would exclusively work with TCI for 30 years.

“We would like to see a shorter term, like two to three years,” Dineen said. “We want to see the results of the meteorological study to see if a wind farm is even feasible before we enter into a 30-year agreement.”